Green Blog: Leopard Poaching on the Rise, Group Warns

Agence France-Presse — Getty Images A leopard skin seized on the outskirts of Srinigar, India. When it comes to the poaching of endangered species, elephants, tigers and rhinos tend to be in the limelight. But a new report sets out to plug the information gap on a different species that is imperiled by a tide of demand related to rising affluence in Asia: leopards. In India alone, an average of at least four leopards have been poached each week over the last 10 years, according to Traffic , an organization that monitors the trade in endangered wildlife around the globe and issued the report. That’s more than 2,000 in one decade. The estimate is based on a review of seizures of spotted leopard skins and other body parts. While most of the items seized were skins, other body parts, particularly bones, are prescribed as substitutes for tiger parts in traditional Asian medicin...